Sometimes I worry that I've lost the plot. My twitchin' muscles tease my flippant thoughts.
I never really dreamed of heaven much until we put him in the ground, but it's all I'm doing now
- listening for patterns in the sound of an endless static sea. ~ Conor Oberst

July 17, 2006

While overall the movie breaks no new ground on pretty much any front, it has one quality that is worthy of note. That is the connection between the idea of true love, or love conquers all, and the power of storytelling. Two guy friends and I watched this film together, mostly cause that is just funny- since most of the fans of this film are women. The film didn't make us cry, in fact it lead to a very funny film (probably not appropriate to these pages). The film uses a notebook as the basis for a story about young love, and this story needs to be continually told so that the commitment between the two can live on (yes, that's a subtle reference to Titanic). Do stories have power? Yes. This is proved by the fact that films make tons of money, they are the storytellers of our current culture. Films that connect to our humanness stay with us, and we use the stories as metaphors in our own lives. An interesting question to consider: Are there any contemporary films that deal with issues of true love and romance that are not comedies or period pieces? (Hat tip to Paul for that). This film is the latter, and it seems Love Actually is the closest to that we could think of. I think it is possible that this points out that love in our culture only works as nostalgia (that's sort of depressing).

We are lonesome animals. We spend all of our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say-and to feel- ‘Yes, that is the way it is, or at least that is the way I feel it.’ You’re not as alone as you thought. —John Steinbeck